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The UNIT era, as most "Doctor Who" timeline compilers have learned, presents quite a difficulty. The big problem with the UNIT stories is that so many of them contradict each other. For example, in "The Web of Fear" (Season 5), the action takes place in 1975, seven years in the future. In "Pyramids of Mars" (Season 13), we discover that Sarah Jane Smith hails from 1980, five years in the future. And in "Mawdryn Undead" (Season 20), it is 1983, placing it firmly in the story's present.

The best compromise seems to be compressing the events of the UNIT years into a shorter period of time. Originally, I had both "The Web of Fear" and "The Invasion" placed in 1968, and the events from "Spearhead from Space" to "The Hand of Fear" running from 1970 to 1976. The dating for these stories now runs as follows (many thanks to Donald Gillikin for suggesting this solution and most of these dates):

• 1968
  • "The Web of Fear" (broadcast year, as before)
• 1971
  • "The Invasion" (nearly four years after "The Web of Fear")
• 1972
  • "Spearhead from Space" (a few months after "The Invasion")
  • "Doctor Who and the Silurians"
  • "The Ambassadors of Death"
  • c. July 23 "Inferno" (date appears on calendar in parallel universe in video release)
  • "Terror of the Autons"
  • Autumn "The Mind of Evil" (autumn leaves seen outside UNIT HQ)
  • "The Claws of Axos"
• 1973
  • "Colony in Space"
  • April 30/May 1 "The Dæmons" (May Day celebrated at end of story)
  • Jo and Doctor visit Peladon ("The Curse of Peladon")
  • Sept 12-14 "Day of the Daleks" (date given in dialogue)
  • Sept "The Sea Devils" (this must happen in September to fit between "Day of the Daleks" and "The Time Monster")
  • Sept "The Mutants" (this must also fit between "Day of the Daleks" and "The Time Monster")
  • c. September 29 "The Time Monster" (Jo's "Happy Michelmas")
  • "The Three Doctors"
  • Doctor and Jo take TARDIS on test flight ("Carnival of Monsters")
• 1974
  • Jo and Doctor on non-contemporary adventures ("Frontier in Space," "Planet of the Daleks")
  • "The Green Death" (ignore leap year calendar at Global Chemicals)
• 1975
  • "The Time Warrior"
  • "Invasion of the Dinosaurs" (immediately following "The Time Warrior")
  • Doctor and Sarah on non-contemporary adventures ("Death to the Daleks," "The Monster of Peladon")
• 1976
  • March "Planet of the Spiders" (just before "Robot")
  • c. April 4 "Robot" (date seen on Sarah's UNIT pass)
  • Doctor, Sarah and Harry on non-contemporary adventures ("The Ark in Space," "The Sontaran Experiment," "Genesis of the Daleks," "Revenge of the Cybermen")
  • "Terror of the Zygons"
  • Sarah and Doctor visit Zeta Minor ("Planet of Evil")
  • "Pyramids of Mars" (visit to alternate Earth; unfortunately, Sarah's "I'm from 1980" still does not fit)
  • "The Android Invasion" (ignore 1979 dating pattern on calendar)
  • Doctor and Sarah away in future ("The Brain of Morbius")
  • Autumn "The Seeds of Doom" (season mentioned)
  • Sarah and Doctor away in 1492 ("The Masque of Mandragora")
  • "The Hand of Fear"
  • Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart retires ("Mawdryn Undead")
• 1977
  • June 7 "Mawdryn Undead"
  • July 31 "Image of the Fendahl" (Lammas Eve; stories catch up to contemporary)

Obviously, this solution is not perfect. We still have that problem with Sarah supposedly being from 1980. Bunches of theories have been bandied about by fans, such as having Sarah take a long break at some point in her travels with the Doctor (as detailed here). At lot of these get over-complicated in my view, and I choose to view the "1980" as a verbal blooper. No matter what solution is used, someone will be dissatisfied. This is just the one that works for me.

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